About the treatment
The oldest idea in skincare, done properly
Scraping the dead layer off a face is not a new invention. What makes dermaplaning a clinical treatment rather than a bathroom habit is the blade, the angle and the fact that somebody trained is holding it and can see precisely what is coming away.
A sterile single-use surgical blade is drawn across taut skin in short strokes, held almost flat. It lifts the accumulated dead surface and the fine vellus hair sitting in it. No acid is involved, nothing is heated, nothing carries on working after you leave, and there is no reaction to manage in the days afterwards.
That is why it is often the first thing we try on somebody whose skin has reacted to everything else. At our West Broadway clinic in Kitsilano it is booked as much for the week before an event as it is as a monthly habit.
The appointment
What actually happens in the chair
It is a quiet, undramatic treatment and most people are surprised by how little there is to it.
Cleansed and dried
The skin has to be completely clean and completely dry, because a blade will not grip damp skin properly. This is also when your esthetician looks closely at what they are about to work over and decides where to avoid.
The passes
Skin is held taut with one hand and the blade drawn in short controlled strokes with the other, section by section. The sound is more memorable than the sensation. Most people describe it as faint scratching and nothing more.
Soothe and protect
A calming serum and a moisturiser go on, then sunscreen before you leave the building. Newly exposed skin without protection on it is the one way to turn a good treatment into a bad week.
Why here
One treatment the climate does not fight
A lot of what we do has to be scheduled around weather. This one is easier in Vancouver than almost anywhere else, for a reason worth explaining.
Damp air rebuilds a barrier quickly
In a dry climate, removing the surface layer starts a race between your skin and the air. Here the humidity is on your side, so the barrier recovers comfortably and the interval between appointments is easier to keep.
Dead skin here sits rather than flakes
Prairie skin announces its dead layer by peeling. Coastal skin holds moisture in it instead, so it lies flat, dulls the light and blocks your serums without ever looking obviously dry. You feel it under make-up long before you see it.
Daily sunscreen needs a clear surface
Almost everybody here wears SPF year-round, which is the right habit. It also sits on top of whatever is already there. Clearing the surface is what stops the two combining into a patchy morning.
Grey does not mean safe
Freshly exfoliated skin needs sunscreen in Vancouver in February as much as in July, and this is the aftercare instruction people here skip most. Cloud filters the light, not the ultraviolet.
Indications
What is it good for?
Everything that lives on the very surface: texture you can feel, dullness you can see, and fine facial hair.
Blackheads need suction rather than a blade, which is a HydroFacial, and coarse dark facial hair belongs to laser hair removal. The full list for Kitsilano is on our Vancouver clinic page.
Safety
The blade, and who is holding it
This is the treatment people most often try to replicate at home, so it is worth being clear about what makes the clinical version different.
Single use, every time
A fresh sterile surgical blade is opened in front of you and disposed of afterwards. A tool that has been used before, on you or on anybody else, is not something that should be going near an open surface.
Angle and pressure are the skill
Held too steep it nicks; held too flat it does nothing; pulled in the wrong direction over the jaw or the upper lip it catches. The technique is the entire treatment, and it is why this is a trained pair of hands rather than a gadget.
Knowing when not to
Active breakouts, a rosacea flare, a cold sore, recent isotretinoin, sunburn from a weekend on the water. Half the job is recognising the days to reschedule, and a home tool cannot do that part at all.
Getting ready
Pre & post treatment
Leave your actives alone beforehand and protect newly exposed skin afterwards. That is genuinely all of it.
Before your appointment
- Five days off the retinoid. This is the single thing that turns a comfortable treatment into an uncomfortable one.
- Three days off acids, scrubs and cleansing brushes.
- Two weeks since any waxing or threading on the face.
- No sunburn. A day on the water in July rules out the following week.
- Arrive clean and dry, and tell us if you are prone to cold sores.
The week afterwards
- A little pink for an hour, and nothing anybody else will notice.
- Sunscreen every morning, cloud or not. More important than anything else on this list.
- Three simple days: cleanser, moisturiser, sunscreen. Bring the actives back after that.
- No sauna, steam or hot yoga for a day.
- Rebook at four weeks, which is how long your own turnover takes to replace what came off.
Results
Dermaplaning before and after
A single treatment at You Glow Aesthetics. Nothing about the tone has changed; what has changed is how light behaves on the surface, so look along the cheek and the jaw.
How much anyone sees depends entirely on how much dead surface and fine hair was there to start with. The effect is at its strongest for the first fortnight and fades as your own skin rebuilds the layer.
Also on West Broadway
Treatments that work well around this one
- HydroFacial in Vancouver — the usual partner, booked straight afterwards
- Laser Hair Removal in Vancouver — for the coarse dark hair a blade should not touch
- Microneedling in Vancouver — texture below the surface rather than on it
- RF Facial in Vancouver — firmness, and effective on a freshly cleared surface
- Dermaplaning brand-wide — how the treatment works across all our clinics
